A HARD-HITTING report into Merseyside’s Crown Prosecution Service has strongly criticised its performance.

Inspectors from Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) spent two weeks with the service, which makes the decisions on charging suspected criminals and taking cases to court.

And they deemed the Merseyside CPS, based in the Liver Building, as “below the expected standard”, with improvements needed.

Merseyside’s chief prosecutor last night told the Daily Post that plans were in place to make changes and there was some good news in the report.

The report looked at both Merseyside and Cheshire CPS, who will soon be merged to create just one service.

It highlighted “poor” charging decisions by CPA lawyers that were not overturned later, despite the opportunity to do so, and said “ineffective” court hearings took place, wasting taxpayers’ money and valuable court time, because cases and paperwork were not kept up-to-date.

The blame was laid at “the lack of proactive performance management” although the report also talked of conflict between staff from the two areas and a lack of “group ethos”.

There were also “inconsistencies” in support for victims but the report said they were “mainly able to keep victims and witnesses informed of progress”.

The report did say good work was being done in the support of rape victims in a joint team with the police and in the North Liverpool Community Centre, in Vauxhall, which “highlighted some very good examples of service to vulnerable victims and the community.”